


All That Glitters Isn't Gold

by Oilux



Series: Of Bright Suns and Shooting Stars [3]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Monster Falls, F/M, Hunter!Bill, Monster Falls AU, cervitaur!dipper, deer!dipper, mermaid!mabel, monster falls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:56:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4457387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oilux/pseuds/Oilux
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things change, nothing stays the same. Mabel realized that when she was fifteen, and Dipper and herself found a stream that changed everything. Things change once more in her life, but most certainly not in the way she was expecting. Monster Falls MaBill AU.</p><p>HAITUS until muse returns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There Must Be Something In The Water

In their third summer of Gravity Falls and visiting their great uncle, things change suddenly. It isn’t a normal change, one they can take in stride and brush off when they go back home. Simply because with this change there is no going back home. There is no returning to Piedmont, there is no going back to normal. At least, not right away. 

Mabel and Dipper were fifteen, walking through the woods when they heard the rush of water. What had originally been a monster hunt had turned into more of a hike, and now as they heard the stream of water, they couldn't help but stop. It was a nice break, one the twins deserved after walking for hours. 

The river they thought they heard was more of a stream. Mabel could walk through it and barely get her ankles wet. It's blocked by a dam higher up, as though someone wanted to stop the flow of water. Dipper said the way the stream lead was into town, but Mabel was certain that it doesn't lead there. 

"It must come from underground somewhere. I wonder where it starts." Dipper said as he looked over at the small dam, which had formed a puddle. The water always seemed to be coming from somewhere, but Mabel couldn't see where. 

"Don't worry about it so much, Dip. You think too much." Mabel laughed, reaching down to splash water at her brother. Dipper sputtered, covering his face. He wasn't quick enough though, and Mabel got him dead on. 

"Mabel! What're you, five?" He still put his journal aside, reaching down to splash her back. 

"No, I'm six!" She declared, and splashed him again. 

The pair erupted in laughter, splashing each other and getting thoroughly soaked with water from the small stream. The water tasted strangely sweet, as though someone added sugar to it. Mabel brushed off the taste, lying on the bank with her brother as they recovered from their water fight. 

"Well, this monster hunt was a bust." Her brother declared, standing up, though he swayed in place. "We should get back home before night."

"I don't want to move." Mabel groaned, looking up at the setting sun. Actually, the thought of a nap was wonderful. Mabel never wanted to move from where she was. 

Dipper suddenly yawned, laying next to her. "Actually, that does sound pretty great." He mumbled, sitting back heavily on the ground. He laid next to her, sighing happily.  
Mabel couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. Her feet still in the water, and with Dipper laying right next to her, she fell asleep. 

Waking up with a tail was the strangest thing she had ever experienced. Mabel felt as though her head was stuffed with cotton, her throat dry. She was sure this was what it was like to wake up with a hangover. Mabel groaned, trying to shift, but her lower half was weighed down, and she nearly screamed upon seeing the bright pink tail. 

The bottom half of her fin was still submerged in the pond. It’s a bright pink, matching her favorite shooting star sweater she was wearing. It glittered in the sunlight, shining and sparkling as though she doused herself in glitter.

“Dipper?” Mabel’s voice cracked almost painfully, as she reached out for her brother. 

She expected the warm fabric of his vest. She did not expect the feeling of warm fur. Mabel turned her head, sitting up a little as she glanced at him. this time she couldn’t hold back the cry from her mouth, and Dipper bolted awake.

“What? What’s going on?” Dipper’s new hooves scraped against the ground, and his new ears flattened against his head. Mabel couldn’t even form words, her mouth opening and closing to make her really look like a fish.

“You have ears!” Mabel finally said, reaching out to touch the soft things. Dipper cringed at first from her touch, but then relaxed. 

“You have a tail!” He looked at her brand new tail, reaching out himself to touch it.  
It took twenty minutes for them to figure out there must be something in the water. Another twenty minutes for Dipper to figure out how to walk with a completely different set of legs. In that time Mabel discovered she was much like her old romantic interest Mermando, and couldn’t come out of the water without suffocating. 

Though Dipper doesn’t want to, he left her there in the stream, since she couldn’t be taken out of it by herself. In the time spent alone waiting for her brother to return, Mabel had fun singing songs to herself and playing skipping the stones in the small pond. Dipper returned with their great uncle, Soos, and the cooler, all on the golf cart to get Mabel out to safety.

Stanley and Stanford take some of the water to investigate, while Soos lifted her into the cooler of water. He tried to make a couple jokes about everything, but Dipper seemed worried beyond belief, and Mabel can’t help but feel it’s her fault. She was the one who started the splash war. Even though she loves her new tail, she can tell Dipper doesn’t enjoy being a deer.

“The lake is where you’re going to have to stay, Mabes, until we can get a pool or something.” Dipper told her, as Stanley and Stanford tried to find the source of the pool. They seemed to be unearthing something, as more water flowed from it’s spot.

Mabel can’t find it in her to protest that fact. She has little desire to spend the night alone, but she doesn’t want to spend it in the bathtub as well. Stanley and Stanford eventually come back, and they drive Mabel to the lake. Soos picked her cooler up and just dumped her into the water. She laughed and shot around, coming back to the pier. 

“Maybe I’ll get to see if there’s really a Gobblewonker or not.” She joked. Though she made a note to avoid it, in case it was hostile. 

“You sure you’ll be okay out here?” Dipper asked, still unsteady on his legs. Mabel rolled her eyes but nodded.

“I’ll be fine, Dip! I’ll go find a cave to sleep in.” Mabel reassured. “I’ll meet you guys here in the morning!”

Though not without a couple of long goodbyes, they finally left, and Mabel was left to her final night alone in the lake. It was a bit scary, being out, but Mabel reassured herself that it was just for a night. 

Yet what was meant to be one night quickly turned into two nights. Which quickly turned into a week. Then a week turned into a month, and then a month flew by and summer was over. Dipper came and visited her every day, still a ‘cervitaur’ as he called it, and told her they still hadn’t gotten a cure. That they wouldn’t be able to return back to Piedmont. 

“What do mom and dad think?” Mabel asked, lying on the sand and soaking up the rays of the sun as Dipper sat next to her and wrote in his journal.

“They’re glad we like it here so much.” Dipper replied, jotting down another note. 

Mabel couldn’t think of anything else to say, and dove under the water to bring her brother back a shiny stone. He put it with the others that she had gotten for him, creating a nice little pile.

“Any new leads?” Mabel asked, looking at her hands. She figured one of the good things about being a mermaid was the fact her fingers didn’t prune anymore.

Dipper sighed and shook his head, ears twitching. Mabel couldn’t think of anything else to say, so she didn’t, just resting with her brother and enjoying the company. 

One month turned into two, and two into three, until it’s the next summer and they’re sixteen. They have their birthday party at the lake so Mabel can attend, and Dipper pushed Grunkle Stan into the lake the first chance he got.

The next thing Mabel knew, was more seasons passed as she forgot what it was like to feel the grass between her toes, or what it was like to walk. She discovered her voice could easily put people to sleep when she sang, or that she can’t pass up a shiny object without the need to pick it up. The small little cave behind the waterfall quickly becomes full of coins and rocks and everything else she can find. Dipper made fun of her for hoarding, but said he kept everything she gave him.

It’s much easier to talk to the creatures of the forest when you’re considered one of them. They tell her secrets of the forest they say humans can never know, and made her promise not to tell her family. The creatures whispered how the small stream was now a big river, and the big river was going into the town's water supply. She doesn’t breath a word, just as she promised.

Two days after the creatures told her the secret of the water and it’s goings, her great uncle Stanley and Stanford came and told her what happened. She doesn’t know what’s stranger, the fact the creatures were right, or that Stanley is a gargoyle now, and Stanford is a sphynx. 

“You’re not the only special one now, kiddo!” Stanley grinned, taking off in flight. Stanford just sighed.

“Ignore him, he’s so annoying now.” 

Mabel grinned and laughed, glad she wouldn’t have to hide from the townsfolk now that everyone else was just as strange as her and Dipper. She wasn’t afraid to swim down the river Gravity Falls had before all this, but now she could do so without hiding from the people.

The creatures whisper other things as well, of a demon who used to roam the woods as a triangle who is now bound to a human body because of the water. The fairies come and visit her in the lake and stop calling him a demon, but call him the hunter instead. They talk about how he’s hunting for creatures, to take what he needs from them to gain his original shape once more. It gave Mabel hope though, because if Bill can find a way to change back to normal then so can she and Dipper.

Yet the only thing that remains the same is the fact that things change. Mabel and Dipper are twenty one and haven’t seen their parents since they were fifteen. She waited on the bank of the river as she always did, waiting for her daily meeting with her brother. He’s running late, and Mabel searched through her small brown bag at the shiny items she had collected that day.

A couple quarters, a seashell, and some shiny rocks. One thing Mabel decided she didn’t like early on about being a mermaid was the obsessive need to pick up every shiny thing she saw. Though she supposed it was better than Dipper and his addiction to salt, he said it was from the deer side of him. Mabel doesn’t point out how he liked a ridiculous amount of salt before as well. 

It’s meant to be a normal day. Just like any other, another chapter in the book she calls life. One sound changed everything. As the sound of the gunshot echoed through woods, the mermaid turned and watched her brother come stumbling out of the woods with blood soaking his shirt.


	2. Tagged

Dipper staggered towards his sister, gasping and in pain. She opened her arms just as he collapsed, landing heavily against her. Her hands went to his chest, where the blood leaked from the most. She pressed down on the wound, but the blood still soaked past her fingers, staining her hands. 

"Dipper?" She almost whimpered, putting his head in her lap and watching him. "Stay with me, look at me." 

His eyes were already a bit glazed over, but he seemed to be doing his best to listen to her. 

"It hurts." He whispered, and when he opened his mouth Mabel could see blood there. 

"I know it does, bro, but stay awake okay?" She pleaded as she looked at the blood starting to fall from the corners of his mouth. 

"Don't leave." He coughed, a horrible, thick, wet sound. Mabel felt tears prick her eyes for the first time since she became a mermaid. 

“I won’t, I won’t. I’m right here.” She brushed his hair from his forehead, and revealed his birthmark in the process.

"Wow! Didn't mean to hit you there, Bambi, though I can't say it's the worst thing that could happen today! And look! The little goldfish is here too." A sudden high pitched voice made Mabel look up, and then glare at the figure who held a shotgun over his shoulder. 

Mabel held Dipper closer, the others breathing starting to get shallower by the second. Bill's form as a human is tall and lanky, and he held himself awkwardly as though he's still getting used to being in a human form. Mabel glanced down at her brother to see his eyes starting to close, and she gently pat his cheek. 

"Dipper! Dipper, stay awake, please stay awake." Mabel begged. Dipper slowly opened his eyes, glancing over at Bill. 

"You ass." He managed out. 

Bill laughed loudly, moving and using the tip of his gun to tilt Dipper's head towards him. Mabel growled lowly and shoved the gun away from her brother. 

"Don't you touch him." Her voice sounded almost feral, and Bill laughed loudly again, this time using the gun to tilt her face towards him. 

"I'll just pay attention to you instead. C'mon, guppy, someone else would have shot him eventually, don't be mad." Mabel glared, and despite how her instinct said run she did nothing but turn her attention back to her brother, who had closed his eyes. 

"Dipper! Dipper no, wake up." His breathing was getting shallower, and Mabel had no idea what to do. Her hands were covered in his blood. Dipper didn't open his eyes. 

"Too bad about Bambi, well, time to move on." Bill cheered. 

Mabel put her hand on Dipper's neck, feeling the extremely faint pulse. She breathed a bit easier. 

"Fix him! I know you can, save him!" Mabel reached out a bloody hand to grab his pant leg. 

Bill arched a brow, but didn't push her away like she thought he might. Instead he looked over at Dipper, before shrugging. 

"I don't heal people." He stated calmly, all traces of laughter gone as he took on his more serious demeanor of making deals. 

"But you can! Please, Bill, you've got to save him." She tugged his pants, and Bill sighed through his nose like he was majorly inconvenienced. 

"What are you going to give me?" He asked, smirking a little. Perhaps he knew now that she had nothing to her name except a cave full of coins. 

Mabel couldn't think of anything, she had nothing. "Just... Anything! I'll give anything, just save him!" 

Bill looked for a long moment before an almost feral smirk crossed his face. 

"Oh, you know just what to say to me, little guppy." Mabel shuddered as his voice seemed to go deeper, a hint of something she couldn't identify lingering in the depth.

"You owe me big for this, I don't heal people." He muttered, before turning back to Dipper. 

He moved and placed his gloved hands hard on Dipper's chest, knocking hers out of the way. For a moment, nothing seemed to happen before his hands glowed a deep, almost electric blue. Energy and electricity sparking as it traveled over Dipper's chest. The boy underneath him squirmed, as though in pain, but couldn't move much with Mabel still holding him close and Bill's hands still pressed against his chest.  
Mabel's glanced at Bill, seeing a thin layer of sweat across his forehead. 

Finally, the hunter pulled back, panting a little. Dipper didn't look as pale as before, his breathing still a little shallow but even. Mabel nearly sobbed in relief, holding her brother to her chest and rocking a little. Bill swayed a little on his feet, showing just how much healing took out of him. Mabel glanced at him for a moment, a flutter of worry racing through her at the knowledge she promised him anything. 

How stupid could she be? Anything? He could do so much with anything. Then she glanced down at her brother, who was still pale but breathing, actually breathing and going to be okay. She would do it again, in less than a second. 

"Woo! That was fun! How about we not do it again though." Bill stated, back to grinning and acting like nothing happened.

"Thank you, Bill." Mabel said softly, lifting her brothers shirt to check his chest. His skin was bare except faint lines that almost didn't exist. 

"Don't mention it, guppy. Can't have everyone around here knowing I can heal people." He moved suddenly, once again using the barrel of the gun to tilt her face towards him. "Now, about what you promised me."

She sighed. It was stupid to think she would get a moment in before he started bugging her about this. She knocked the gun away, dipping her hands in the water of the lake to wash the blood away. 

"Don't ignore me, guppy, you promised me anything, do you know what I'm going to take?" He grabbed her face with his hand, gloved fingers digging into her cheeks. Mabel struggled to pull away, but couldn't. 

"Let me go." With one hand still on her brother, the other reached up to try to pry away his fingers. He tightened his grip, and Mabel could feel the sharp points of his nails pricking her through his gloves. 

"I've always wanted a pet fish, much easier to take care of than a deer." He didn't let go of her face as he almost purred the words out. 

"No, no, no, I will not be your pet!" Mabel let go of Dipper to push him away more. He didn't move an inch. 

Bill smirked, pushing Dipper out of her lap and using his other hand to drag her out of the water. Mabel gasped and struggled, using her tail to get water up and slash him. None of it seemed to affect him, until she managed to open her mouth and start singing. 

_"Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be_

_Who love a jolly sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea,_

_While up aloft, in storm or gale, from me his absence mourn,_

_And firmly pray, arrive the day, he home will safe return."_

Her voice was shaky, but the words still came from her mouth as she sang. Bill paused, listening carefully to her song even as one eye began to droop. The other she couldn't see behind his eyepatch, but she assumed it was drooping as well. 

_"My name is Maria, a merchant's daughter fair,_

_And I have left my parents and three thousand pounds a year,_

_My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,_

_There is nothing can console me but my jolly-."_

His hand on her face faded for a second, just a second, and she allowed herself to relax. Then he slapped her hard, making her song stop and hard enough to send her face into the sand. Before Mabel can do anything more, Bill dragged her until just the tip of her tail was in the water. She could still breath, but barely. 

“Don’t you try that again on me, siren.” He almost snarled, before moving and sitting on her tail, his back facing her from where she laid on the ground. 

Mabel cried out, trying to throw him off her as she felt his gloved fingers touching the end of her fin. Bill dug his heels into the ground, keeping her in place as he pulled out something Mabel couldn’t see from his pocket. She reached up and grabbed at him, one hand holding her injured cheek.

“Get off! What’re you doing?” She cried out when she felt pain in her tail, making tears prick her eyes. Yet nothing had actually fallen, no tears fell past her eyes. “Bill! Get off!” She tried jerking him away as more pain went through her tail, but he held firm.

He did something else she couldn’t see, before he was off her, pushing her away like she had tried to hurt him and not the other way around. Mabel immediately sat up, looking down at her tail. She sucked in a harsh breath at the sight of the bottom of her tail. It had been unmarked before, but now at the bottom of her tail, was an actual tag. It was a small piercing, with a triangle attached to it. Her hands went to it, about to take it off before gloved hands stopped her and pushed her hands away.

“Don’t even think about it.” He said firmly. “You promised me anything. So I’m taking what I want. That tag shows everyone you’re mine, and lets me track you. Take it off, and I won’t hesitate to make sure Bambi comes to a much worse fate than being shot.” 

Mabel glanced at Dipper, who was still passed out. Her breathing was still shallow from just barely being in the water, her tail was radiating pain, but one glance at her brother made her calm down. She would do this, for him. 

“See? It won’t be so bad. All I want is for you to do a couple favors for me, and heck, if you behave maybe I’ll even let you go at the end of all this.” 

“I will tear out your throat at the end of this.” Mabel hissed lowly, eyes starting to glow. 

Bill outright laughed, bending at the waist so he was even with her gaze. He reached and poked her cheek, snatching his hand back when she snapped at him, sharp teeth nearly biting his finger. 

“Look at that, guppy has a bite?” He cooed, practically giddy now. Mabel glared at him, moving and scooting a bit more into the water so she could maybe slip away. 

Bill had her arm in a vice in less than a second. “Where are you going, siren?” She groaned, trying to get her arm away from him. 

“What more do you want from me?” She asked, as he raised his hand. She couldn’t help but flinch a little, and Bill seemed to delight in that reaction. 

“Can’t have my little siren running about all free, can I? Tell me, how long can you be out of water?” He asked, and Mabel paled, trying to get away and back into the water.

“Not long at all, really, I can’t be out of the water.” Mabel said frantically, trying to pry his fingers off her arm. Bill tightened his grip, making her wince. 

“Seems I know something about mermaids that you don’t. Say goodbye to Bambi, little siren, it’s the last you’ll be seeing of him for a while.” Bill stated the words almost flatly, and Mabel knew he meant them. 

“Bill, please-.” She couldn’t even get the rest of the words out before Bill smashed the barrel of his gun against the side of her head, making the world go dark around her.


	3. Live Fishies

Water has life, or at least Mabel was convinced it did. She swore to Dipper she could feel the life in her fingers when she first swam through it, she could feel the raging waters of the ocean that the river came from. Dipper scoffed and said that wasn't possible, water was just water.  
  
Still, Mabel dreamed of going to the ocean, if only for a day, to go and swim and feel the mighty waves that tore apart cliffs and shattered stones. She wanted to go treasure hunting for sunken ships and see a whale up close.  
  
She did neither, not wanting to leave her brother behind to chase a silly dream. Before all this happened, Mabel wanted to make clothing and see the world. Now she wanted to see the depths of the ocean and bring presents back to her brother.  
  
Yet when she woke a couple hours later with a pounding head and the hard edge of a bathtub digging into her back, Mabel knew she had to let go of her dreams. The water she was sitting in was cold and dead, no oxygen left in it, and it barely came up to her waist. The edge of her tail hung out of the tub, as it was too small for her to really sit in. Mabel groaned, raising a hand to press at where Bill slammed his gun against her head.  
  
"Finally! I was starting to think you'd never wake up. Welcome back to the real world, guppy." Bill's obnoxious voice was much too loud for her, and too close as well. She groaned again, covering her eyes and sinking lower into the tub.  
  
"C'mon, don't be like that! You've been asleep for hours." He complained. Mabel peeked out from her fingers to glare.  
  
"That's because someone felt the need to slam a gun against my head!" She snapped, trying to turn and get comfortable in the tub. All she ended up doing was splashing water on the ground.  
  
"Hey, stop that! Not like you're going to be able to get anywhere if you get out." Bill snapped, ignoring the water on the floor. Mabel groaned, going limp and letting her tail hang out the edge of the tub. The end of it burned, and she pulled it up to really look at it.  
  
The piercing looked almost infected, with how red and irritated it looked. Mabel ran her fingers over it, hissing from the pain and trying to take it out. Bill was there in a moment, pushing her hands away.  
  
"Take it out and I'll find a better place to add it." He snarled. There was a chair near the tub, which he sat in. He grabbed a knife and a piece of wood, whittling a carving.  
  
"It's infected." Mabel said. Bill didn't look up from the wood.  
  
"I need to take it out." She moved to do so, eliciting a sigh from the hunter. He moved forward, taking off his belt and binding her hands together.  
  
"Shut up, and be glad I didn't take your life instead of just keeping you. Don't make me regret it." He snarled, and Mabel glared, tugging on his hands to try to get them away from her. He was still holding the belt tightly.  
  
"I didn't ask for this!" Mabel screamed. "I don't want to be here anymore than you want a pet! Let me go!"  
  
He growled low, sounding almost like an animal as he yanked on her wrists, making her cry out in pain as he actually dragged her out of the tub, letting her fall hard on the ground.  
  
"Get it through that thick skull of yours, you have no power here." He grabbed her face, watching her gasp and squirm and struggle for air.  
  
She flailed, feeling her skin tighten and her lungs beg for air. Dipper never understood why she couldn't be out of the water when she had a set of lungs, but didn’t question it. In fact he said it was something psychological, since he had deer instincts she would have fish instincts. That her body recognized being out of the water was bad.  
  
“I control you, I own you. I could take your life and never blink an eye. I could go and find your brother and skin him in front of you, and that would be it.” He bared his teeth at her. The points from his nails pricked at her skin.  
  
Her body felt like it was on fire, the world starting to darken around her. Mabel struggled, trying her best to pry him off her but he wouldn’t budge an inch. Every inch of her skin was clenching, and the water puddling on the floor. Suddenly, Bill pulled out a knife.  
  
“I could fillet you, grill you up, and serve you for dinner, and you wouldn’t be able to say a word in protest.” He ran the knife down her tail, the sharp edge barely making a line of blood appear as he split open her skin.  
  
“Bill, I’m sorry.” She sobbed, but no tears fell. It had never been harder for her to cry than when she was a mermaid. Since turning, she hadn’t felt one tear fall down her cheeks, even when they pooled in her eyes as they did now.  
  
Bill seemed to consider it for a moment, before he let go of her face. “Come on now, it won’t be so bad.”  
  
Mabel felt a sob pass her lips, but she didn’t respond verbally besides that. She reached up for the edge of the tub, pulling herself up and back into the water with shaking arms. She sank into the water as far as she could, trying to get every part of her burning body wet.  
  
"I'm going out." He seemed to decide, unbinding her hands to take his belt back.  
  
Mabel didn't respond, turning on her side so she wasn't facing him.  
  
"Don't move an inch! Not like you could anyways!" Bill laughed loudly. "Be a good girl while I'm gone and I'll bring you back a treat."  
  
Mabel still didn't respond and he finally left, smirking as though he was the most powerful man on earth.  
  
Mabel supposed that he was. She had no idea how he got her to his home, but until she figured out how she was stranded in his tub. Stuck in it like she was in an oasis in the middle of the desert. Bill was right, she could fight and scream all she wanted, but no sane creature was going to walk into the hunter's home to save her.  
  
She would have to figure this out on her own.

* * *

Several hours later, the slamming of the door woke Mabel up. She couldn't recall falling asleep, but with nothing better to do in the tub full of dead water, Mabel must have dozed off.  
  
Bill burst through the bathroom door, the gun slung across his back and a dead rabbit on each shoulder. Mabel tried not to look into their dead eyes, but they seemed so accusing, staring right at her. He placed a dripping bag of other game on the floor, sitting down on the chair he left next to her tub.  
  
"Didja miss me?" He cooed, smirking a bit. Mabel glared, and decided silence was her best weapon. She scooted as far away from him as she could, which wasn't that far.  
  
"Aw, I missed you too, guppy!" He reached into the bag on the floor, pulling out whatever was in there. She refused to look.  
  
"Since you were such a good girl." He reached out and gently patted her cheek, taking his fingers away with a chuckle when she snapped at him. "I got you a surprise!"  
  
She actually cringed at that, knowing whatever she was about to get wasn't going to be a good surprise. She was starving, thirsty, and sore from being in a small, cramped space for so long. Bill reached down, grabbing the bag he placed earlier on the floor and throwing it into her lap.  
  
She couldn't help but scream at the sight that greeted her when she opened the bag. Fish, decapitated and gutted, rotting inside the bag, staring at her with lifeless eyes. Mabel wanted to throw up, but instead she just threw the bag out of her lap, listening to the sickening sound as it landed on the floor. She recognized some of those fish, they were her friends back in the lake.  
  
"Hey, I went through all the trouble of getting you some friends, and this is how you say thank you?" Bill grabbed the bag off the floor and shoved it in her lap again. Mabel let out a mournful sound, looking at her fallen friends.  
  
"You killed them." She whispered, reaching as though to touch one, but only pulled her hand back.  
  
"Of course I did! No point in keeping a live fish when all it's going to do is struggle and try to get away." Bill grumbled. Mabel froze, this time carefully taking the bag out and setting it on the floor. She got the message there, that Bill wouldn't hesitate to gut her like he did with the fish, like he tried to prove earlier.  
  
"Well! You know, most people say thank you when someone gives them a gift." He didn't move to bring the bag back in the tub, and Mabel was grateful for that.  
  
The words felt like acid on her tongue though. She didn't want to thank him for anything. Mabel bit the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood, steeling herself for the words.  
  
"Thank you." She spat, turning away from him and on her side.  
  
Bill reached over and ruffled her hair, before rising. He grabbed the items he brought, including the bag of dead fish Mabel was still mourning over. He rolled his eyes when he saw her shoulders shaking with silent tears.  
  
"Holler if you need me." He nudged her to look at him, checking over her face to see if she was crying. She wasn't, but she seemed close.  
  
Then he left, slamming the bathroom door shut and leaving her alone with nothing more than her thoughts. Mabel made herself as small as she could, settling in for a long night in the hunter’s home.


	4. Fear No Evil

She woke in the middle of the night, shivering cold from the frozen water. Mabel thought it was just herself for a moment before she breathed out, and she could see her breath floating before her. Her teeth chattered, and Mabel shook violently in the tub as she tried to rub her arms to warm up. 

"B-Bill?" Her voice hardly came out as a whisper, and she knew the hunter wouldn't hear her; he probably wasn't even awake. Mabel had the briefest of thoughts that she might just freeze to death in his porcelain tub. 

The mermaid tried to move her tail, but pain shot up it from where Bill had pierced her. He wasn't around, he would never know, and Mabel couldn't take the pain anymore. She reached down, hissing in pain as she slowly removed the piercing. More blood oozed from the wound, but as soon as the metal was out she felt instantly better. She sighed in relief, looking at the blood encrusted gold triangle in her palm. 

"I don't know how long I can keep this up for." He hadn't fed her, or given her any water. He killed her friends, many of which she had given names to. 

Mabel wanted to hug her brother, she wanted to go and swim in the lake and try to find the Gobblewonker. Instead she was staring down at a small golden triangle, talking to it like it was a person. 

"Why does he want me for a pet? What did I do? I miss Dipper..." She whispered. 

She paused, opening her mouth to speak more, but then the bathroom door slammed open. Mabel jumped about a foot in the air, and Bill came stumbling in as he looked around the room. 

"Shut up! Why the hell are you even awake?!" Bill nearly shouted. Mabel sank a little into the tub, eyes widening with fear. 

"I-I couldn't sleep." She stuttered out. Bill glared, coming forward and grabbing her by the throat. 

"You annoying little brat." He spat. "Don't you know how to be quiet... Why are you so cold?" He seemed to pause. 

Mabel was shaking not only from the cold at this point but from fear as well. She couldn't even get a response out from how tightly he was holding her throat. She clawed at his hand, and the hunter finally let her go. She dropped heavily in the tub, crying out in pain as she landed rather roughly; water splashed onto the ground. 

Before she could do anything Bill reached over, draining the tub of water. She gasped for air, trying to turn the water back on but he easily batted her hands away from the knobs. Mabel was near tears, feeling them pool in her eyes. 

"Please..." She begged, but Bill didn't listen, pushing her shoulders back so she could only lay there gasping for air. 

Her tail flailed as she struggled to get away from the hunter, but his grip was tight, and unrelenting. His gloved fingers dug into her shoulders, sure to leave bruises on her delicate and pale skin. After a minute, and feeling as though she was running out of air, Mabel stopped struggling, lying limp in the tub. For the first time since she was turned into a mermaid, a tear rolled down her cheek. Mabel couldn't breathe, she couldn't even muster up the strength to brush it away. 

"Finally! Of course it takes me almost killing you for you to give that up." Bill snapped, and wiped her tear away. She thought it was his hand for a moment before she realized it was caught by a small glass vial.

Her vision was swimming in and out, inky darkness trying to capture it. Her tail felt like it was on fire. Mabel wanted to cry so much more, but she couldn't. That one tear seemed to be all her body was willing to shed, despite what she wanted. 

"Breath Mabel, breath." He ordered, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. "It's instinct, fight against it. Breath with me, in and out." 

It took a second for her to register his words, and then another second for her to follow them. Mabel coughed and sputtered horribly, barely able to breath. Her vision was still swimming in and out, when Bill suddenly picked her up. 

"You're a lot lighter without that tail, little siren." He joked. Mabel clung to him, hardly able to keep her eyes open. 

"What?" It was easier to breath now, and suddenly she was placed on something soft. Bill shook his head, grabbing her knee gently. 

Wait, knee?

Mabel gasped and looked down at her legs. The legs she hadn't seen for years. They felt awkward and light, and it felt strange to bend her knees and twist her ankle about. 

"I have legs!" Mabel wiggled her toes, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and trying to stand. 

Bill easily pushed her back onto the bed, grabbing her legs and putting them on there as well. "You're not getting up. You're still freezing."

Before she could even think about protesting, he grabbed the blanket and put it over her, tucking her in tightly. Mabel felt so confused, but changing forms like that was exhausting, and she was absolutely freezing now that he mentioned it. 

"Why do you even care?" She muttered, cuddling underneath the covers and curling on her sides. She kept running her hands over her knees, amazed to have her legs back. Why hadn't her and Dipper tried that before? She could have been normal, at least a little bit. 

"Have you ever heard of the legends of mermaid tears?" He asked, holding the vial up to the light. Her tear sparkled in it. Mabel didn't reply, so Bill took it as a go ahead to continue. 

"Mermaids aren't supposed to cry, they have no reason to, being under the water and all." Bill explained, dragging up a chair to sit next to her. "Yet, you were human before, which means you're even more special than mermaids. I've spent the past two days trying to get you to fucking cry! I thought for sure the fish thing would do it." Bill tucked the vial into his shirt pocket, patting it a moment later. 

"So... All that, everything you did to me, was all just to get me to cry?" She asked softly, before her face contorted with anger. Before the hunter could stop her, her hand snapped out, slapping him harshly across the face. 

"You unbelievable ass! You put me through all this just because you wanted me to cry? I-I'm so mad at you right now!" Mabel struggled against the blankets, getting up and stumbling her way towards the door. 

Bill was up in just a second, an angry red hand print on his face and his arm going around her waist. Mabel struggled, beating against his arm and trying to break free from him. 

"Let go! You've gotten what you wanted from me, now let go!" She wanted to get out and go show off her legs to her brother, to hug him like no tomorrow. 

"No, that wasn't the deal. Lay down and go to sleep." Bill easily dragged her back. Mabel was a panting mess, and could hardly keep her head up. Two days of no food and hardly any water was affecting her harshly. 

"Please, Bill, you got what you wanted." She murmured weakly as he placed her back into bed and tucked her in. "Let me go home."

"Hush, little siren, I have so many more plans for you than just that. Now, sleep.” 

“I want to go home.” Mabel whispered, curling up in a little ball as Bill dragged a chair next to the bed. Her eyes were already drifting shut. 

“You are home.” Came the hunters voice. Mabel couldn’t speak anymore before she fell into the inky darkness of sleep.


	5. Death has no gaze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long. Enjoy!

She woke because she was too warm. The exact opposite of what woke her last time. Mabel stretched against the warm, soft surface, thinking of how nice it was to sleep in a soft bed and toasty sheets, even if it was Bill's bed. He had gotten the tear he needed from her, maybe now she would be able to get away.  
  
"I know you're awake." Bill said from his place next to the bed.  
  
So much for getting a bit more sleep, Mabel sighed and opened her eyes, looking over at the hunter. He had an array of little items spread out on the nightstand next to the bed, most of them things she didn't recognize. She assumed they were things he needed, otherwise he wouldn't have them. Just like he needed her. What purpose could she still give him?  
  
"Morning." She mumbled, rubbing her eyes. She stretched her legs once more, loving the feeling of the sheets on her bare legs.  
  
"You like having those back?" He asked, pulling the sheets back to look over her legs.  
  
Mabel nodded, looking at her legs. They had more muscle than she remembered them having, but she figured that would come with age and how her tail had more uses than just her legs. She was almost always swimming when she was in the water.  
  
Mabel flinched for a moment as she stretched, feeling a burning sensation in her left foot. That wasn't normal. Mabel pulled her foot into a better position, seeing the mark of the piercing that he imbedded in her tail. It went through the middle of her foot, and she was amazed that she hadn't seen it before. Bill let out a whistle when he saw the inflamed and irritated wound.  
  
"Looks bad." He commented. Mabel glared, crossing her arms before she tried to get up. The pain, now that she was aware of it, seemed worse than she had ever felt before. She could put hardly any weight on her foot, and leaned heavily against the bedpost.  
  
"This is all your fault." Mabel muttered, trying to stumble to the bathroom. She didn't get far before Bill was by her side, picking her up into his arms.  
  
"Put me down! Why do you have this thing about picking me up?" Mabel struggled immediately, trying to get away but his grip was like iron. He didn't even seem bothered by her struggling, bringing her to the bathroom.  
  
"Oh my god, you're so annoying." Bill grumbled, setting her on the counter in the bathroom. Once she was settled he let her go, and instead reached under the counter, getting out some bandages for her.  
  
He haphazardly wrapped her foot, not caring for her pain or what was actually needed for her foot. She batted his hands away, wrapping her own foot and letting herself wince and whine as she thought about the damage Bill had done to her.  
  
"I told you not to do that." She muttered and shook her head. Bill scoffed, picking her up once more despite her claims and irritation that she was being held once more.  
  
Bill rolled his eyes, taking her to his favorite room in the house he had. He already knew she would hate it, and was quite excited to see her reaction. He found that in his time being human, hunting was such a wonderful pastime. He didn't get that nickname for nothing, and it was a rightfully earned title. Bill opened the door to the room with his hip, looking at her to gauge her reaction when he showed her the contents. He was not disappointed.  
  
The trophies he had collected over his time being human were placed in this room. He had the head of almost every creature decorating the walls, complete with the type of creature and the date he shot it on. He had everything, from seers and bears, to gnomes and unicorns. The moment Mabel realized what she was looking at she let out a high pitched shriek, like any normal person would have. Bill was not normal though, and just entered the room with a chuckle.  
  
"What? You monster!" Mabel pounded against his chest, trying to get away. There wasn't anywhere to go though, as he held her firm and shut the door behind them. He wasn't even bothered by her struggling or the pounding on his chest; she was weak in comparison to him.  
  
"We've established that. Demon." He moved over to the couch he had near his desk, plopping her down on it. Before she could even think about following him he went over and locked the door, keeping her from escape.  
  
She stumbled towards the window when she heard the click of the lock on the door. It didn't budge, and she grew more frantic, banging on the glass in hopes of breaking it. Bill shook his head, grabbing her and yanking her from the window and to the ground. Mabel cried out, but he held no concern for her.  
  
"This is where you'll be staying from now on." He said flatly. "This is my trophy room, as you can tell." It was the only room in the house infused with magic.  
  
Upon turning human, and being in the wrong person's body at the wrong time, Bill found his magic was severely limited. For seeing an infinite number of outcomes and an infinite number of universes, he did not see this happening when it did. He was a demon, he wasn't meant to be affected by stupid spells and magic water. He had managed to figure out how to summon little magic to his hands, but it wasn't nearly to the level that he was used to. He could barely make a spark of fire appear on his fingers. He had done a lot of work though, pouring all of his magic into this room. Since Mabel was no longer confined to the bathtub, it was here she would stay.  
  
"I want to go home, let me out." She demanded. Bill rolled his eyes, moving to his desk and flipping through a couple items. It was starting to get annoying, how she was always begging for that.  
  
"I won't say it again." He snapped. "This is your home now. You'll stay in this room, and you will behave." He gave her a hard look. "Do you understand, siren?"  
  
Mabel crossed her arms, going to try to open the door even though she knew it was locked. He couldn't really expect her to stay in this room. It reeked of death, and the eyes of the creatures he killed, they followed her. They seemed so accusing, and all Mabel could hear were their questions of why she had never stopped Bill, why she never thought to care about the hunter before this. Mabel placed her forehead against the cold wood of the door, unable to look up into the stares of the creatures.  
  
"Not here, I'll stay anywhere but here." He didn't even care that she was upset, that she was near tears and shaking once more. Now that he had gotten a tear out of her, more seemed willing to come. She wouldn't let them fall, not for Bill.  
  
"You don't get a choice." Bill muttered, throwing a couple logs on the fireplace so he could start a fire. "If I wanted your opinion I would have asked for it. The only reason I let you sleep in my bed last night was because I was too tired to get up."  
  
It wasn't because of the guilt, or the irritation of her. He had simply thought the best solution was to put her there until the morning. Now he was regretting the kindness he had shown her.  
  
"I can't stay in this room!" Mabel practically screeched as Bill finished setting logs and lit the fire up with his lighter. Humans had such curious inventions, and his favorite was the portable lighter. The power of flames in the palm of one's hand, he adored it.  
  
"Why not?" He actually sounded a little offended by that. This was his favorite room, after all, and to insult it felt like a personal attack on himself. He knew she was upset by the decaying and stuffed animal heads, but it couldn't be all that bad.  
  
"It reeks of death!" Mabel placed a hand over her nose as though she could really smell it. Which to her panicked mind she could. She could smell the blood on the carpet and the fear in this room.  
  
She had never been squeamish about blood and death in the past. She had been the one to help Stan decorate more taxidermied animals so they could become attractions in the shack. It was only after turning into a mermaid that she had more of a sense of danger, more of a fear placed in her. Every instinct right now was screaming that Bill was a very bad man, she needed to get away before he hurt her too.  
  
"Complaining gets you nowhere." Bill muttered, reaching under the desk and pulling out a jar of eyes. Of course he stuffed heads up there contained glass eyes, but the eyes in the jar were the real ones from the animals.  
  
"You're horrible." Mabel muttered, refusing to budge from her place by the door. She was running off pure adrenaline and fear, even the pain in her foot was dulled.  
  
"Tell me something I don't know." Bill snapped back. "Now will you shut up? I'm trying to work."  
  
Sure enough, he had a wide variety of items set before him. A batch of unicorn hair, the jar of eyes, a black, shiny oil, and the vial containing her tear. Mabel was once again struck by curiosity of his need for a simple tear.  
  
"Why do you need a mermaid tear?" She asked, sliding down to the floor. She was hungry, and tired, but she wouldn't admit that to the hunter. She rubbed her hurt foot with her hand, trying to work a bit of feeling into it that wasn't pain.  
  
"None of your business." He replied back. Now it was Mabel's turn to roll her eyes. She wanted him to keep talking, to distract her from the dead creatures who still had their accusing glares set on her.  
  
"It's my tear." She said after a moment. "I can take it back."  
  
"You can't take back tears, little siren." He grabbed a pen, starting to write down on a sheet of paper. He had her there, and she didn't mind so much as long as he kept talking.  
  
"Why do you need it anyways? It's just a tear." Mabel asked again, eyes down as she felt she couldn't lift her eyes. Everything was still staring at her.  
  
"Will you be quiet? I can't concentrate with you talking." He still didn't answer her question.  
  
Mabel gave a huff, but quieted down, eventually getting up to move and sit in front of the fire. Being a creature with such an element as water, the warmth was nice even if the flame was a bit disturbing to be around. She didn't bother to pull a chair up, just sitting near the fireplace on the ground, watching the flames dance.  
  
She didn't know how long she stayed there for, watching the flames and listening to the crackle of logs and the scratch of Bill's pen against paper. She didn't think she could sleep in such a room that had death wrapped all around it. Yet, as though put under a spell, Mabel found herself falling asleep, curled up on the ground with images of the dancing fire entering her dreams.


End file.
